BBC’s Dragons’ Den investor to speak at Signature Awards 2019
Dragons’ Den investor Piers Linney has been announced as the keynote speaker for the Signature Awards which take place in February.
Linney is an entrepreneur and investor and is known as a champion of entrepreneurship.
He has broad experience of the financial and operational challenges that continue to face growth businesses as a founder, adviser, director and investor.
Linney has founded several technology and communication businesses and has won a range of entrepreneurship awards, including Entrepreneur of the Year at the inaugural EY sponsored Black British Business Awards.
He has sat on the Cabinet Office SME Panel and the Board of TechUK, and is a Trustee of Nesta, the UK’s leading innovation charity with a £450m endowment.
He is a non-executive director of the government-owned British Business Bank, which aims to unlock capital for UK SMEs and which has facilitated over £12bn of financing, including £250m for the Midlands Engine Investment Fund.
Awards founder Ninder Johal, who is past president of the Black Country Chamber of Commerce, current board member of the West Midlands Growth Company and Board member of the Black Country LEP, said: “We are pleased to have a fantastic speaker at the awards, Piers will give an insight into the world of technological disruption and the role of data in today’s business world. I am also sure that he will give us insight into his time as a Dragon and what the future looks like for SME’s and entrepreneurs.
“The tickets are selling extremely well and we have been really pleased with the quality of the nominations. The deadline for submissions is the 16th Dec so there is still time for entries.”
The awards take place on February 1, 2019 at the ICC Birmingham.
The sponsors on the night include Porsche, Cobra Beer, NFU Mutual, FBC Manby Bowdler, Rational FX, East End Foods, Pathway Group, Wolverhampton University, BJS Distribution, Oxbridge Home Learning, Hollywood Monster, Vision Printers and Bootcamp Media.
The event will be hosted by Tommy Sandhu and the charity on the evening will be Acorns.
